GCSE options - which 2 from history, drama, music?

[OnGoldenPond]

DD in yr 9 and we are undergoing the delightful options choice process.

DD is very academic, top stream, achieving 7a to 8a in pretty much all subjects at the moment.

Her passion is musical theatre and her ideal career would be performing in West End musicals. Very involved in local musical theatre, drama and dance groups, exceptional singing voice.

Compulsories are:
English Lang & lit
Maths (taking GCSE end yr 10 then Additional Maths GCSE end yr 11)
RE
Spanish
Triple Science

Then has free choice of 2 more from a list from which history, drama and music are clear favourites.

Drama dept very strong with about 30 taking GCSE each year. Last year 80% got A or A*, all got at least C. This is a comp.

DD enjoys all 3 and having great difficulty choosing which to drop.

Would be eternally grateful for any advice and insight from those who have already been through this.

But with academic grades like that, she'd probably be better off doing something useful at university, and then getting involved in as much drama as possible while there and trying to launch a career from that.

I'm at this! Are you implying that vocational training is only for non-academics?

I agree about GCSE drama having no bearing on becoming a professional actor, btw. I didn't do it. Mind you, I did study Theatre Studies at Warwick, which, last time I checked, was rather well-regarded, so having no GCSE in Drama clearly had no effect on whether or not I was able to get in.

Just let her study the subjects she most wants to.

History and Drama. Drama has a lot of theory and she will need to do A level to then get on a degree course so needs to do gcse in prep. History gives her an academic oomph. Music is good but many students doing drama and music have clashes as drama wants them in the play and music needs them in orchestra. What woud carry as much weight in music would be if she got to grade 8. You can also do grades in theory so that takes care of that. Drama gcse is huge fun but stressful as well. To be honest LAMDA is fine but no equivalent and I have known some frankly wooden pupils on stage get high up with. lamda because they are individual type performances. Deffo not a substitution and no uni is going to give mucg credence to lamda as they would to music grades.

Flapping - er no. She doesn't need to do A Level to get onto a degree course.

Evil - interesting to see your degree. I was at Warwick myself and knew someone who did joint English and Theatre Studies. Have suggested already to DD thus might be a good option for her as I know in my time the courses were very well thought of. What did you and your fellow graduates go on to?

I don't actually think drama or music are essential requirements for her to get into what she wants to do as she does so much outside of school and in school extracurricular. I think it will come down to which has the course content she will enjoy more. The workload of drama will not worry her as she loves it.

DD has decided history is adefinite which is good as it keeps more avenues open. Just the choice between the other two.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to give your input, it has all been very useful.

I did joint English/Theatre actually. Of my friends both on joint and single courses, a few went into performing, but if I'm honest, the only two who have made it "big" had famous parents. Lots of us performed for a bit then stopped when children came along and changed direction. The only thing with the joint degree at Warwick is that it didn't involve a huge amount of practical work (it may be different now) but I did so much with WUDS & MTW that it didn't really matter.

Friends in the industry now arrived there through a variety of routes - from universities, drama colleges or, in some cases, just from the open audition route. Currently I have a number of ex-students working as professional performers. Again, a variety of routes. Best advice for your DD is to keep doing as much as she can. Our local theatre has a great youth theatre so I always advise students to get involved with that. I've got 2 boys auditioning for NYT next week, and I try to give the keen ones as many opportunities as possible at school. Talented kids need nurturing and lots of boosting of self esteem. I tell the outstanding ones that if they can put up with the shit that goes with it, no one can stop them from succeeding. Obviously I phrase it a bit more professionally!

Do she like working with other people? In some performance subjects there is a fair bit of it, and depending on the school, they may or may not get that much choice as to who they work with. That can be a problem for someone who is a perfectionist and wants the really top grades, if they are working with others who are not so bothered. It might be worth finding out how much of the grades depend on what other people do (she might perform better individually when she's with others who are taking it seriously), and it could be difficult if there are factors affecting her grade that are beyond her control.